Time to pack up a bag full of supplies, a few snacks and a change of clothes. No it’s not time for the hospital just yet, It’s time to REGISTER.

While the baby books can tell you what to expect WHEN you’re expecting it’s hard to know what you may need after the baby comes. Our HollyBaby Bloggers, Sarah and Neil, tell us all about creating their registry, one chew toy at a time.

SHE SAID:
The strategic floor planners at Buy Buy Baby must have engineering degrees from MIT and Harvard. That store is designed to suck you in and never let you go.

After hearing from many people that I should put a registry together I headed in there for the first time. After emerging four and a half hours later, I had only managed to make an appointment for a future registry date and purchase 14 gender neutral onesies.

Neil actually commented on how he wanted to go with me when I registered. This automatically made me ecstatic since he didn’t even register for our wedding with me. (Don’t worry he LOVES the cheese knives we got). So on a rainy Saturday we ventured into Babyland. (Not Babeland, the store on the Lower East Side, that is a different place entirely).

When a 19-year-old kid in a uniform came up to us to help we rolled our eyes. What could this kid know about baby products? The truth is: EVERYTHING. He listened to our stroller wants: City durable, light-weight, car seat adaptable and possibility for two kids to sit in it. He rolled up with two strollers, explained the difference, price, brand, and consumer report! This kid knew his stuff.

We were zapping that little gun at everything. Bathtub — beep, diaper cream — beep, etc. We were on a roll! Until we hit the breast pump section. It was then that Neil had a slight stroke, made some noises (not sure you could call them words) then sat in the corner shaking. I realized then that maybe there were a few items I might want to shop for alone….

–Sarah Main

HE SAID:
I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this one, after having skipped out on most of the Wedding Registry; china patterns are far less exciting than crib linens and bottle warmers. So the deal was made that we would do this on a day when the weather was far-from-ideal, and that happened to be the following day. I will say that the store we chose, Buy Buy Baby, made the whole process as painless as possible, and their staff were very knowledgeable and helpful.

Being a heterosexual male, and English at that, I don’t have the gene for shopping in my DNA, so my attention span had waned by the time the sliding doors had closed behind us. The fact that we still don’t know the gender of baby Eggleton was not helping the selection process, and my participation in this experience ended abruptly at the first mention of breast pumps.

The one area that did get my attention was the stroller and car-seat section. Now I’ve always liked cars. Some of my earliest memories are of lining up all my Dinky Toys, Hot Wheels and Matchbox models on the rug of my bedroom (a map of New Zealand), and racing them in some imaginary Gumball Rally across the Antipodes. Unusual flooring as it was, it formed a great backdrop to my childhood version of The Wacky Races, and even to this day, you are going to have problems dislodging me from the TV when Top Gear is on (UK-version only)!

So the engineering and performance of various strollers and car seats were compared, test-drives were taken, and tires were kicked. The Maclaren was a favorite going in, especially due to the Formula 1 ties that the name evokes, but the CitySelect has made it onto the shortlist. I am told that is more akin to an SUV than a sports car, but we were advised that it is appropriate for an urban lifestyle, and the possible seating arrangements put a minivan to shame. These things are not light however, and this experience has given me new appreciation for those parents struggling to negotiate the stairs to the Subway — that’s one thing I don’t skip out on helping with any longer.

–Neil EggletonWant more? Check back every Tuesday for ‘A Family Grows in Brooklyn!‘Get More HollyBaby Blogs!

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